


Clocks of the Biological Persuasion

by Tangerine_Catnip



Category: Borderlands
Genre: Abusive Relationships, Alternate Universe - Gender Changes, Crack, Crack Fic, F/M, Female Handsome Jack, Gender or Sex Swap, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Impregnation, Oral Sex, Original Character(s), Past relationship mention, Pregnancy Kink, Pregnancy sex, Vaginal Fingering, Vaginal Sex, Vibrators, Wet & Messy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-28
Updated: 2016-12-17
Packaged: 2018-05-23 16:02:57
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 16,588
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6121897
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tangerine_Catnip/pseuds/Tangerine_Catnip
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It’s not every day you get the chance to start your life over from scratch, and Handsome Jackeline is not about to waste her opportunity. But before she can rebuild, she needs to replace the one thing original Jack always took for granted; Her family.  </p><p>Thanks to a brand-new body, she has most of the “equipment” she needs. The only missing piece is a partner. Someone loyal, dedicated, and with maybe just a touch of obsession for flavor.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Hyperion felt different. Jackeline had hardly been gone a year, but it felt more like ten, maybe twenty.

Then again, she was missing a huge chunk of her life. The gap between the last brain scan she remembered and original Jack’s death stretched out like the mouth of a canyon. The recordings she had dug up from the Hyperion database had helped to put some of the pieces together, but seeing it on a screen was much different than living it.

When she wasn't focusing completely, Jack still caught herself making plans to travel down to the control core and see her baby girl, or smiling over how brilliant the plan to trick sanctuary into lowering its shields was.

The new body probably wasn't helping either. Nakayama had gotten his stupid ass killed going into a depressive spiral after her death, leaving the clone body project in ruins. R&D had to grow her new body all the way up from infancy into a young adult.

They would have gone further, but trying to grow the host body at an accelerated rate beyond maturity could have resulted in mutations, or worse. So, they decided to simply install Jack's AI in a body much younger than her old one.

At first, the idea of being 25 again seemed freaking awesome. Even if Jack still had to wear her mask to cover what her scientists referred to as an 'Eridian anomaly.' Well ex-scientists, she hadn't let anyone who had seen her scar live to tell about it.

But after that was dealt with. Jack soon remembered a major thing she had forgotten about being 25. Namely, all the hormones and mood swings that came with that younger age.

Then, as if that wasn't a difficult enough transition all on its own. There was also the fact that she had been made from cold, emotionless data for the better part of a month and had forgotten just how good things like eating, sleeping, and most crucially, sex, felt.

Thankfully, Jack was filthy rich and could indulge in all of them to her heart's content. Decadent food, hot girls, hot guys, eating enough chocolate to kill five animal shelters worth of puppies, bandit camps to blow up for giggles, inferiors to terrorize.

Only this time, none of it was really scratching the itch the way she wanted it to. She still felt like something was missing from her new life. Something she needed to truly feel like her old self again. 

It took her a whole week to figure it out why, and even then, the revelation only came because she happened to be channel flipping and ended up a re-run of some shitty soap opera with a b-plot about a woman wanting to have children before her old maid status became permanent.

Normally Jack would have just scoffed at it. After all, she had gotten that bullshit over with ages ago when she had her gorgeous baby girl.

Except, not anymore.

Angel was dead, and Jack was twenty-five, single again, and very much alone.

Jack ignored the thoughts at first, but they kept coming back whenever that awful feeling of something missing spoiled her fun.

She knew nothing would ever be able to replace her Angel, she had been one in a billion. Or six out of 25 billon if you wanted to be literal. 

But Jack still vividly remembered coming home after long days at her desk. Tired and defeated by her asshole boss giving her a near impossible workload and taking every opportunity to remind her how worthless she was.

She would wander into the bedroom she shared with her husband and lean on the edge of Angel’s crib. Watching her teal Siren tattoos glowing faintly, even as she slept.

Angel had been her inspiration to start climbing the ranks of Hyperion and to never settle for second best. A daughter like her would require every resource Jack could embezzle. Both to protect her from people who might abuse her for her powers, and from herself.

The throne Jack had made for her had been four years in the making. Hiding it from Tassiter had been difficult, but she had pulled it off through sheer determination and quick thinking.

Her only regret was that it hadn't come together in time to save Angel's father.

Now Jack had all the resources and money in the world, and nothing left to drive her. Even conquering Pandora seemed pointless now there was almost nothing of value left on that useless pile of rock.

Getting back into Hyperion and to her proper place as it's queen had occupied for a while, but she hadn't ever planned what she was going to do once she got there.

All that mattered to her now was the future of Hyperion, and finding another project worthy of her. So maybe, just maybe, having another child would kill two birds with one stone.

Deciding that she wanted to get pregnant took almost a full month of debating and self-doubt, but deciding how she wanted to get pregnant didn't even take five minutes.

* * *

 

Jack stalked into the CEO's office like she owned the place. Which she did. Even if the paperwork said that Rhys was the acting head of Hyperion.

The kid had earned the title, though. Jack prided herself on taking good care of her team, and Rhys had been a more loyal lapdog than she could ever have asked for. He recovered her AI from Nakyama's stuffed corpse, plunged her into his head, and brought her back to Helios.

That whole mess had been nothing short of a nightmare, but it had been just the tiniest bit worth it to come out the other side with someone she could really trust.

Rhys was not a half bad CEO either. Jack had often been to wrapped up in trying to save Pandora to manage all the little details of her corporation, but Rhys took to it like a duck to water.

He was doing it right now. With stacks of actual paper crowding his desk like it was still the 1980's, or whatever. It was hilarious.

Rhys was so focused, he didn't notice her entering the room. He lifted his cup of coffee and was halfway through a sip when his eyes met hers.

Jack had made herself up for the occasion. Her wavy brown hair cascaded down to her shoulders without a single strand out of place, and her heterochromatic eyes were rimmed in painstakingly perfect winged eyeliner.

She was also standing a few inches taller than normal thanks to an hour spent digging her old boots out from the back of her closet. They were the ones she had worn on Elpis, with the straps up the side and the yellow heels.

After that, she had ditched her overcoat for just her Hyperion sweater, and while usually, she was a strong advocate of pants, (how could she not, with how fantastic they made her ass look?) she had swapped her jeans out for a denim mini skirt. Emphasis on the 'mini.'

Rhys nearly dropped his mug, eyes going wide as he took in the generous amount of thigh in between the top of Jack's boots and the hem of her skirt.

"Hey there, Pumpkin. You busy?" Jack asked.

"Uhhhhhh… I um, well yeah, but… I'm never too busy for you," Rhys replied.

Jack grinned. Even Moxie couldn't train her men this well.

"Good answer. Let's just get some of this crap out of the way, shall we?" Jack shoved the nearest pile of paper to the ground. Rhys flinched, but he didn't protest as everything else he had gathered in front of him met the same fate seconds later.

In one swift movement, Jack hopped up on top of the now empty desk and sat cross-legged on the flat surface, facing Rhys.

Rhys glanced down, then right back up again.

"Ja-Jack… you're not. Um, you aren't wearing any underwear…" Rhys stammered.

"Yeah kitten, I know," Jack said. Smirking as Rhys' cheeks colored bright pink.

Poor little Rhys, he didn't have a snowball's chance in hell of resisting her. Even if he hadn't been obsessed with her since before they had even met.

Jack could have bedded Rhys at any point after getting her new body, but she had been waiting to see if he would get it together and try flirting with her. So far, though, he had been nothing but professional in her presence. Probably too scared of being rejected to try, which was about as cute as it was pathetic.

"So, I've been thinking Rhysie. I've had it up to my gorgeous eyes with Pandora and its bandit scum. I think it’s time we ditch this place and have the CEO finally return to Hyperion HQ on Apollo," Jack said.

Rhys was a little distracted, trying to look anywhere but between Jack's legs, but that statement snapped him out of it.

"R-Really? You, Handsome Jack, want to leave Pandora?" Rhys asked.

"Something wrong with your ears princess? Yeah, that's exactly what I said," Jack replied tartly. She reached over to flick Rhys forehead in retaliation for his stupidity. Rhys winced and jerked away from her.

"Ow! S-stop that. Look, I just- This is Pandora were talking about, it… wasn't it everything you were working towards? I mean, you literally died for it," Rhys said.

"Thanks again, captain obvious. Look, you don't need to tell me what my life was like, alright. I lived it, I saw it blow up in my face."

Jack sighed and crossed her arms over her chest.

"-But, I've got a new body now, and I've got my whole life ahead of me again. There are six whole galaxies out there just waiting for me, and I've got 80 to 100 more years to do whatever the hell I want," Jack added.

Jack glanced around and pressed one of the buttons on the desk. Magnets in the floor activated with a soft hum and pulled the luxurious yellow chair in close to the desk, so Rhys was only a foot away.

"But before I do, I want to make absolutely sure Hyperion is going to be in proper hands. I worked my ass off to get to where I am, and I will not let my crown fall to the hyenas again. Installing you as CEO was the first step, but let's face it, you're technically older than me now. My legacy needs to continue after both of us are pushing up daisies. So, you and I have a duty to plan ahead."

"Am I supposed to know where this is going?" Rhys asked.

Jack scoffed. She liked him for his loyalty and his pretty face, but his innuendo needed a lot of work.

"Let’s make this really simple; I want you to knock me up."

"Up where?" Rhys asked.

Jack rolled her eyes. She was tempted to kick him in the balls for that, but she still needed them in working order.

"Oh…" Rhys said as it finally clicked into place. "Oh, you meant…"

Jack had never seen a human suffer from a blue screen of death before. She could almost see his operating system loading into safe mode from the expression on his face.

Jack sighed and grabbed a fistful of Rhys' lapels. In Jack's experience, when you wanted something you just had to take it. She pulled Rhys in and kissed him, sliding herself into his lap with his thighs between hers.

All things being equal, Jack preferred not being the one doing all the work, but riding cowgirl style was still preferable to letting Rhys of all people bend her over her desk, so…. 

Jack bit down in Rhys bottom lip taking advantage of his gasp to slip her tongue into his mouth.

She rocked her hips in slow swaying motions. Providing just enough friction to gain the interest of her little friend in the front of Rhys' pants.

When Jack pulled away, Rhys' hands had found their way onto her hips. Any other guy would have been squeezing her ass right now. Maybe it was fear, respect, or the fact that it just hadn't even occurred to him. Knowing Rhys, it was probably that last one.

Jack pulled her sweater up and placed it behind her on the desk. Underneath, she had a yellow bra with black trim and the Hyperion logo on the right cup.

As far as Jack was concerned, she had an awesome rack. Sure, they were a lot smaller than the H-cups balloon-tits sported, but there was a lot to be said for elegance of design.

Rhys seemed very impressed if his gawking was any indication.

"I'd ask if you like what you see, but I already know that you do. I bet you never thought you would see them this close-up, hmm?" Jack asked.

Rhys shook his head, his grip on Jack's hips tightening.

Jack propped one of her legs up on the arm of her chair. She hiked her skirt fully out of the way and pressed two fingers against her core.

"Yeah, still not wet enough. Rhys, be a good pet and talk dirty to me."

"W-what?" Rhys stammered.

"Come on, use that little brain of yours and think of something. You're a guy, you're basically made to do this. Just talk about how you're going to plow my field and plant oats, or whatever."

"Look, uh… I'm still like seven pages behind here. Can we go back to the part where you want me to..." Rhys paused, it sounded too crazy to even say it out loud, but he didn't have a choice. "Make you pregnant?"

Jack sighed and rubbed her forehead in exasperation.

"Well, at this rate, I'll hit menopause again before that happens, but, yes."

"Why me?"

"Why you?! Rhys, you and I are partners! You and I survived Pandora together! After that, raising a baby together will be child's play. Literally, actually."

Jack pressed her breasts up against Rhys' chest and rested her chin on his shoulder, making Rhys tense up.

"Look you wanted to be the king, and kings need heirs. Plus, look at us, we're so attractive it would basically be a crime if we didn't pass it along," Jack insisted.

She found Rhys' left hand and guided it over to her lower tummy. She felt his breath hitch as he caught her meaning.

"I'm offering you the chance to father my legacy. Just think about that for like, five seconds," Jack said.

Rhys was thinking about it. He had always planned on having kids at some point, but his career goals had always been more important than settling down and finding a wife. Now that he had completed his dream of ruling Hyperion, there couldn't be a better time than this. Right?

But Jack was, well… Jack. Crazy, unpredictable, murderous, Jack. But then… she was also courageous, magnanimous, gorgeous, Jack. She was everything he ever wanted to be. He mimicked her power stances, used her image to stay motivated, had walked in her footsteps.

Just working by her side had been all he had ever hoped for. He hadn't even considered raising a family with her, but now she suggested it, it actually kind of made sense?

They were co-rulers, after all. Just like Jack had said. It was only natural they would consolidate power into a single family.

Jack sat back, reached behind her shoulder, and unhooking her bra. She pulled it off her shoulders and tossed it aside.

"Jack… are you really sure about this?" Rhys asked.

Jack bounced a little in his lap and raised both eyebrows at him.

"No, dumbass, I just decided to get naked on your lap because I was casually considering it," She snapped.

She grabbed a fistful of Rhys' laboriously styled hair and pulled him down, so his eyes were level with her chest.

"If you're going to refuse, you better hurry up and do it. Cuz, I’d love to start putting your mouth to better use," Jack said.

Miracle of miracles, the boy understood what she wanted him to do. His lips closed around her right nipple, and Jack arched into it. Moaning as Rhys' tongue lapped at the cluster of nerve endings.

"Oh fuck. Yes, just like that, kiddo," Jack breathed. She crossed her arms around the back of Rhys' neck, holding him tight as he lavished attention on her breasts.

Every spike of pleasure was going straight to the junction between Jack's legs. Her pulse rate climbing as the foreplay started to have its effect.

Jack pulled her body back, away from Rhys' mouth. He blinked up at her, visibly confused. She tilted her body a bit, pressed her other breast against his lips so he could give it the same attention.

"There you go, that's my special boy. Why don't you put a few fingers inside now? I think you've earned it," Jack suggested.

Rhys started moving his left hand, but Jack snatched it by the wrist.

"Oh no, I don't think so, I want to see what that robot hand of yours can do."

Rhys' mouth was full so he didn't reply. But he dutifully switched hands. Holding Jack's hip with his left, while his right pointer finger traced softly over her vaginal lips. Jack grit her teeth, she was all for a little bit of teasing, but if he didn't put something in her soon, someone was going to get strangled.

Just as she was contemplating closing one hand around his neck, Rhys sunk two fingers in. The metal was cold, but it was mitigated by how hot she was inside. They were also harder than human fingers, making it easy to tell where she started and he began. Jack could feel herself throbbing against him, her natural lubricant dripping down his fingers.

Rhys pulled away on his own accord when Jack leaned back. Her desk pressed up against her ass as she tilted her hips so they could both see what Rhys was doing between her legs.

Rhys started slowly thrusting his fingers into her. Probably scared of breaking her with the raised strength in his cybernetic limb. Which was dumb, because she was Handsome Fucking Jack and basically made of iron.

His eyebrows knitted in concentration as he guided his thumb up above her entrance, pressing it against the folds that hid her clit.

Jack made a sound that could be mistaken for a scream of pleasure but wasn't, because no one made Handsome Jack scream. Especially not her little Rhysie.

With his robotic fingers, Rhys probably could have probably fingered her and rubbed her clit for hours without getting tired. Something to explore for later. When Jack’s patience hadn’t already been consumed by all the stupid questions.

Jack jerked her hips away from him. This time Rhys didn't react as strongly. He was learning to wait for her to make the first move.

Jack turned her attention to Rhys belt. It was some silly clip arrangement instead of a proper old fashioned buckle. It was easy enough to get out of her way, though. She pressed the front, and it popped open. After that, it was simple to unzip them and push his briefs out of the way.

He was rock hard, of course, had been since she had gotten into his lap. It was probably a wonder he hadn't already cum in his pants from her mere presence.

When Jack looked up again, she caught Rhys licking the fingers that had been inside her. Jack's lips pulled up into a sneer.

"How do I taste, Pumpkin, everything you imagined it would be?" Jack asked.

Rhys swallowed and nodded. He hadn't really been thinking when he did it, but now it was hitting him what he was doing.

"I'll make sure you get a proper taste real soon," Jack said, flashing Rhys a wink with her green eye.

Jack lined up her hips with the tip of Rhys' cock, holding his hips still with one hand so he wouldn't jump the gun on her. Jack waited until he met her gaze and was giving her all the attention she deserved.

"Listen to me very carefully, Rhys. I want you to remember every moment of this," Jack purred.

"For starters, I hope you feel lucky because I haven't let a guy bareback me in decades. Never mind intending to freaking procreate with him. But I know you, Rhys, inside and out, and I know you'll always have my back when I need you. So, from this point forward, you are going to be part of my legend."

Rhys was hanging off her every word. Forgetting even about the heat against the head of his cock.

"I love you," Rhys murmured. The words slipped out when he had only been intending to think them. Part of him squirmed with embarrassment, but he was too heavy with lust to dare move or look away, no matter how he felt.

Jack blinked back at Rhys. She was expecting a lot of things, but not quite that. Christ, this guy had it bad.

"Of course, you do," Jack replied. She tilted his chin up with one hand. Kissing him deeply as she lowered her hips and letting out a long breath against Rhys' lips as He filled her up. She settled in his lap, and Rhys folded in around her, hugging her close.

"Jack… f-fuck," Rhys moaned.

"Mmmmh I agree. That's a nice fit. And here I thought I'd need you to get a new cybernetic enhancement installed," Jack replied, smiling, so all of her teeth were showing.

Before Rhys could ask what she meant by that, Jack tensed her inner muscles, squeezing around him. Her purr of pleasure mixing with the cute little gasp he made.

Jack started easing herself into the right motions. Being on top was exhausting, but at least you could use the position to take full control of the pace. Nisha had taught her a trick to make sure a guy hit your G-spot when you rode him, and it was basically one of the best things a girlfriend had ever given her.

Jack braced herself against her desk again, putting some of her weight onto her arms and finding the right angle. Jack's whole body reacted when she found the spot. She tossed her head back and breathed in sharply, picking up the pace, craving more.

Rhys tried to hold her hips, but Jack slapped his hands away, at least until he got the bright idea to rest his palm against her pelvic bone and run his fingertips over her clit again.

Jack hissed through her teeth. You had to give him points for dedication. Maybe she should fuck her loony fans more often if they were going to service her like this.

She was going to hit the edge soon. But more importantly, Rhys was also going to finish soon.

"You better not forget why we're doing this. When you cum, make sure it's deep." Jack growled.

Rhys shivered underneath her.

"You're really going to let me?" He asked.

"Let you?! Rhysie you're not going to have a moment's peace until you finish what you started. I am going to ride you dry as many times as it takes. Then probably more, just because I can!"

Jack was so focused on talking she almost didn't even notice the moment she hit the end of her plateau.

Her speech lapsed into broken cursing. Rhys pulled her into one of his clingy hugs, and for once, Jack was grateful for it. She held onto him for balance as she rode out the wave of ecstasy that climbed up through her.

She had every inch of Rhys inside her when he finished. Jack squirmed a bit, she had forgotten how weird, hot, and sticky that felt. She sat flush against his lap again as they both caught their breath.

Jack was the one to separate them by sitting back down on the desk. She spread her legs open, her pussy was throbbing gently, and when she touched herself, her fingers came away messier than usual.

"I can't believe that just happened," Rhys murmured.

"You can take a picture if it helps sweetcheeks," Jack offered. She contemplated making Rhys clean up the mess he had made with his tongue, but that partially defeated the purpose of letting him finish in her, to begin with.

Jack huffed and slid off her desk. She glanced around for her bra but decided she couldn't really be assed to find it. So, she just pulled her sweater on over her head without it.

Rhys was slumped in the CEO's chair with his dick still out. He looked like he was in a trance, his eyes unfocused and staring at nothing.

"So, your place or mine?" Jack asked

"Ahh, what?" Rhys mumbled, jolting up and back to reality.

"For round two of course. If you can do something to increase your chances of success, you should always follow-through. Right now, I think we should try it twice every day for a month. You can handle that, right, tiger?" Jack asked.

Rhys had no idea whether he could handle that, it sounded exhausting and was easily more sex than he was used to having in a year but he was all for giving it a try.

"Yeah. Of course," Rhys agreed, giving her the fake confident smile he had perfected while working for Hyperion.

"Good."

Jack smoothed her skirt back down and leaned over the chair to give Rhys one last kiss.

"Mommy will come find daddy later then. Try not to spend all your time thinking about how delectable I'm going to look while pregnant," Jack suggested. She swept out of her old office with, if possible, even more swagger than she had entered it with.

Rhys watched her go. He hadn't been thinking about what Jack would look like with the distinctive pregnant bulge under her trademark yellow sweater until right after she had mentioned it.

Rhys looked down at himself, then at the mess of papers on the floor, and Jack's forgotten bra resting quietly on the floor between him and the trophy case.

The chances of something productive happened today had basically dropped to zero.


	2. Chapter 2

Rhys was starting to worry about Jack.

It wasn’t out of character for her to vanish without telling him, especially now he was doing all the meetings and decision making for her. But after two weeks of being seduced everywhere from empty offices to broom closets, the sudden absence bothered him.

He had to wonder if something had gone wrong with the, for lack of a better term, process. It didn’t even have to be a medical thing. Maybe she had changed her mind.

Jack’s personal history was one of the great mysteries of Hyperion. Everyone had just enough information that they felt like they knew the whole story, but if you tried to put together the pieces, the places where the narrative fell apart became painfully obvious.

But Rhys knew for sure Jack had a daughter at one point in time and that she had been murdered by the same vault hunters who would later shoot her mother to death in the belly of a volcano. Not exactly a cuddly bedtime story, but Rhys had to wonder if the sudden fixation new-Jack had on baby making was related to that trauma.

Trying to replace lost loved ones seemed just impulsive and short-sighted enough to be exactly what Jack would do.

Really, nothing about this whole arrangement was healthy, and Rhys knew it. But every time he thought about talking to Jack about it, he found some way to convince himself not to.

It was like he was living in a dream and he didn't want to risk doing anything that might shatter the illusion and send him crashing back to reality.

If this went ahead and they were successful, there would be a life tying them together.

After Jack had literally lived in his head for weeks, Rhys couldn’t say it was the most intimate thing he could imagine, but it still felt… Well, he couldn't quite pin the feeling down.

There was something unavoidably primal about this whole process. Not just the sex, but the emotions it brought up. He felt like this would mean Jack belonged to him in some small way. Just as he had once belonged to her by being technically Hyperion property.

Jack's talk about her 'legacy' was a little on the grandiose side for sure, but she wasn't completely wrong. There would be pages in the galactic history books about this. About how he rose to power alongside her and produced the next leader of Hyperion. Someone trained from birth to fill their mother's and father's shoes.

It was a lot to think about and as it turns out he had plenty of time. Because it was nearly a full five days before he found out what happened.

He was in the middle of a routine visit with R&D to talk about some new grenade mod prototypes when Jack burst in, promptly kicked all the research staff out of the room, and pining Rhys to the wall furthest away from a partially dissected stalker corpse.

Jack was breathing heavily, she had been hunting all over the damn Moonbase trying to find Rhys, and now she had, her anger was bubbling up to the surface.

Her fingernails dug into his wrists, but Rhys didn't try to pull his hands back or shake her off. He was starting to learn that it was best to go limp when Jack was angry. Like how wolves would roll over and bare their necks to show submission.

It was too late for the 'hi, how are you' at this point, so Rhys just skipped ahead to his second question.

"I missed you, where have you been?"

It seemed like a good place to start. If he knew anything, it was that Jack was always ready to talk about herself.

"At home. Curled up in a ball of pain and pleading for death."

Rhys blinked at her, how the hell had he not heard about Jack getting sick? Or hurt, or whatever it was.

"W-what? Are you okay?"

Jack gave him a withering look and rolled her eyes.

"Yes, I'm freaking 'okay' shit-for-brains. I was having my period."

"Oh…" Rhys replied, and then the implications sunk in, "Ohhhhhhhhh…"

"Yeah, 'ohhhh'" Jack repeated, mocking his tone. "The good news is I've already had you tested for infertility, so it's not your fault, but I am not going to sit around waiting for this to take however long it's going to."

Rhys had to wonder how exactly she had him tested, seeing as he hadn't agreed to take one. Then again, if anyone would have access to samples of his 'stuff', it would be her.

"I've already told Blake you're taking a week off. That's when I'll be ovulating, and you are not leaving my side for that whole time. Got it?" Jack asked.

The businessman in Rhys objected strongly to missing a whole week, but the regular man in him was too enticed by the idea to let that other guy get in the way of this.

Yeah, got it."

Jack let out a long breath. Shifting back to calm now she had gotten her way. She let go of Rhys' wrists and pressed her whole body up against him. Thanks to his long legs and the extra Hight it gave him, his shoulder was just perfect for leaning against.

"Ah, Rhys, you're such a pussy whipped bitch," Jack purred. Then after a pause added, "-never change, okay?"

Now that she was spending more time around Rhys while also possessing a body of her own, Jack was noticing a ton of little things about him. There was the way he smelled for one thing. It had to be cologne with how distinctive it was. Scents on guys were hard to do right. Even after spending a lot of money you could still end up with something way too strong or just downright nausea inducing.

A lot of Hyperion executives got it wrong in their effort to flaunt the massive paychecks they were bringing in. Even in his CEO position, Rhys had managed to stand out from the pack and had gone with something just subtle enough to be noticed and appreciated.

After all the sex they had been having, the scent was starting to turn her on all by itself.

Then there was his heartbeat and how she could make it race or slow so easily with words or touches. If the mood struck her, Jack could turn him into her perfect little plaything, but not so easily that he became uninteresting.

While Jack was lost in her thoughts, Rhys glanced over at the dissected stalker. This wasn't the most romantic of places, but after missing Jack for the lion's share of a week, he was dying to show her the new upgrades he had installed.

"Jack?"

Jack made a muffled 'mhmm' sound against his shoulder. It could have meant anything from 'yeah?' to 'shut the fuck up, Rhys.'

"While you were gone, I um… Well, I'll just show you."

He took his robotic right arm from behind Jack's back and slipped it between their bodies. A few weeks ago, Rhys would never have dreamed of doing something as bold as putting his hand between Jack's legs and pressing his fingers up against the crotch of her skinny jeans. But it all seemed so natural now.

Jack felt the vibrations a split second before she heard it. She bucked up into Rhys' hand, opening her legs a little more, so all four fingers pressed against her core.

Jack clawed at Rhys' shoulders, pulling him down, so he melted to the floor at the same time she did. The vibrations were so strong that even the denim of her jeans wasn't enough to dull it.

"Oh, you sneaky little…" Jack muttered, but whatever insult she had on the tip of her tongue was overwritten by a whimper as the first twinges of pleasure started taking hold.

As was typical for vibrators, the sensation flooding through her flipped rapidly between not enough, just right, and way too much. It was overwhelming, and Jack desperately wanted something inside her to distract from the vibrations. But then, she would have to make Rhys stop long enough to take her pants off, which was not happening.

Jack forced her eyes open a crack and saw the pale expanse of Rhys' neck above the collar of his dress shirt. She was leaning on the side without the circle tattoo. Without thinking any further, she bit down on his neck, pleased to hear the gasp and feel the shudder of pain that passed through him.

Jack dug her fingers into the collar of his shirt and pulled on it sharply, wanting more places to add her bite marks. But before she could lean in again, a surge of pleasure passed up through her, forcing a sob past her lips. Jack's toes curled against the souls of her boots. It was at the point where the constant simulation was starting to hurt, but still far too good to stop.

"Rhys…" Jack moaned. Her silver tongue had all but deserted her less than thirty seconds in, and it was only getting worse.

Rhys left hand gently stroked up and down her back. Soothing the wildcat of a woman as best he could.

Jack hissed through her teeth as it hit her, her orgasm practically torn from her by the relentless vibrations. She arched back on instinct, unintentionally allowing Rhys to watch her as she rocked her hips against his hand, the surge of pleasure ebbing.

As soon as it was over, she shoved his right hand away from her. Too overstimulated and too sensitive after her orgasm to stand it a second longer. She scooted away from him and sat back on the lab floor, panting.

"If you tell anyone you made me cum in my pants. I will rip out your liver with a cheese grater and have it mounted in my trophy case," Jack hissed.

Rhys nodded, the grisly nature of her words hardly even registering. Jack didn't have to threaten him. He would never even dream of sharing these moments with someone else. The look of ecstasy on her face was for him, and him alone.

Rhys' blue ECHO eye lit up for a moment as saved the last few moments of visual input as a video recording on his internal hard drive.

Jack groaned and tried to get up, only to find her legs and arms to mutinous to help. Then, just to top it all off, there was a distinct slickness between her legs that would be distracting her until she had a chance to change her panties and pants too probably.

Jack glowered at Rhys. He was looking off into space, distracted by that stupid cybernetic eye of his.

She popped out the button on the front of her jeans and tugged the right leg off completely. Rhys caught what she was doing out of the corner of his eye, and startled back into reality just in time to see Jack roll the yellow fabric down her hips.

She propped her legs open. Rhys had no idea someone could even get that wet.

Under the bright lights in the laboratory, her vulva glittered with it.

"This is your fault. So, if I were you, I'd get on my tummy in the next fifteen seconds and start fixing it," Jack suggested, using a deceptively calm voice that promised hell to pay If her subordinates didn't fall into line.

Rhys didn't have to be told twice. He crawled back over to her and dropped down onto his elbows on the polished metal. She smelled just as good as she looked, especially close to her core. Rhys paused to nuzzle the inside of her thigh. Jack drew in a breath, but she decided against berating him.

In Jack's experience, it was typical of men to want to go straight for the prize. But for some reason, Rhys liked taking his time to obsess over all her body parts, not just her tits and ass.

Rhys ducked his head a bit and ran his tongue over her. Jack nearly cracked her head against the floor as she jerked up against him.

It would have been perfect, but the sensitivity from his magical vibrating hand was still there, and it also hurt far more than it should.

"Ow! Gentle, damn it! I'm not a fucking tuna fish sandwich," Jack complained.

Rhys winced, wishing she hadn't put that image in his head, but it was easy enough to forget as he repeated the motion. Going far slower this time.

"Mmmm…. Better. That's my precious Rhysie."

Rhys would have gone for hours, he really wanted to go for hours. Her taste was intoxicating, bitter and sharp, and her thighs squeezed around his ears with every sweet spot hit. But Jack was still too overstimulated to orgasm a second time, and once she was relatively less sticky, she sat back up and started to pull her pants back on.

"Credit where it's due. I wasn't expecting that at all, kiddo" Jack admitted, as she zipped up the front of her pants and smoothed the fabric out over her legs.

"Perks of Hyperion cybernetics, I've wanted to try out a feature like that for ages."

Rhys decided to curtail the rest of his thought, especially the part about not hanging on to a girlfriend long enough to bother getting the upgrade before. None of that mattered now anyway, Jack was everything he had ever needed and more.

Jack scooted over to him and kissed him, tasting herself in his mouth when she inevitably turned it into a French kiss. The steel wrest-watch around her wrist beeped softly, reminding Jack she had other things she wanted to do today, and that her CEO had probably missed at least three meetings while they were curled up on the floor together.

"I'll see you on your week off then," Jack said as she stood up. She pulled her arms up over her head and cracked her back with a sigh of relief. "Oh, and you better not jerk one out between now and then, 'cause If you finish and it's not inside me, we're going to have a freaking problem. Got it?"

Rhys nodded. He had been too focused on her to really dwell on it before, but suddenly he was all too aware of the tightness in his pants and how much of his overall blood supply was pooling down there. He was probably going to have to wait a while before he could face any of the R&D staff.

If waiting was supposed to be frustrating, then Jack had missed her mark, because Rhys wanted to save it for her too.

Jack hovered with her finger over the button that would open the lab door, examining Rhys, his messed-up clothes, and the bright red mark on his shoulder.

"We'll get it for sure this time," Rhys said.

"Yeah, we will."

* * *

 

"What are those?"

Jack paused with her hand inches away from her mouth. There were six pills in her palm, ranging from liquid capsules to tiny white circles of compressed powder.

She raised an eyebrow at Rhys, then swallowed them dry before answering. Rhys visibly flinched in his seat across the table from her. His face scrunched up in a concerned frown.

"Prenatal Vitamins. Doctors gave me a huge bottle. Apparently, it's important." "Oh…" Rhys replied. His Relief visibly spreading through him.

"Were you really thinking I was taking drugs while trying to conceive? Seriously?! God Rhys, I tell you one story about nasal frostbite, and suddenly you're clucking like a worried hen when I get within ten feet of a pill.”

Jack laughed so hard she nearly spilled her glass of grape juice. They were just about finished dinner now, and the servant robots had just brought out matching bowls of vanilla ice cream with strawberry sauce.

"It's bad enough I'm going to have to go without caffeine and alcohol for another nine months. The only two vices I've got left at this point are sugar and sex."

Jack nudged the toe of her boot against Rhys' leg as she said that last one. Just in case he missed the implication of who was meant to provide that second one for her.

"Speaking of supplements, I have something for you," Jack said.

She slid a small box across the table with the label facing up. Rhys picked it up and started reading aloud.

"Fertilizer, a new miracle supplement from the makers of engorge."

The box had a little Hyperion logo on the side. And until this moment Rhys hadn’t even known they had taken over manufacturing it. The brand name must have been one of the spoils of war with Atlas.

"Jaaaaack, please, just… just, no."

"Come ooooooon babe, I've been dying to try this out since the last control group survived." Rhys rubbed at his face with his left hand.

"Do I even want to know what it does?"

"It makes Handsome Jack very happy, and full of..." Jack hesitated, searching for a euphemism that wasn't awful. "Well, you get the point."

Rhys swallowed and nodded. He didn’t need the help to get Jack pregnant, but the thought of being able to literally fill her up was tempting.

He had also known all along that keeping Jack would require a loosening in his definition of kinkiness. This was a woman who had once considered having a twenty-person orgy a perfectly average Tuesday afternoon.

Rhys opened the box and slipped out the foil casings. There were only two pills in the box, but they were huge.

Jack giggled in her excitement.

"Hold on. Let me take my pants off first. I really like this pair, and I don't want you to rip them."

* * *

 

Jack awoke with a shiver running down her back. Hot breath tickled her neck and Rhys nuzzled into her shoulder.

"You have more for me?" Jack asked. She reached back and ran her fingers through Rhys' hair. It was an absolute wreck, his hair gel long overpowered by sweat and compounded bedhead.

Rhys didn't reply in words, he just nodded and hummed under his breath. He probably wasn't even capable talking at this point.

Jack rolled over onto her side, and he pulled her against his chest, his arms around her hips. From there, all she had to do was open her legs a bit, and he slid in easily. His last finish leaked out around the base of his cock as he bottomed out.

At this point, each time he fucked her as much came out as he was putting back in, but Jack didn't care at all.

She had lost count sometime after round four. Mostly because that was the point they had both taken to falling asleep in between sessions. Helios had a carefully regulated day/night cycle, but Jack had shut the program off in her penthouse, so it was impossible to tell exactly what time of day it was supposed to be.

They had gotten up to eat at some point. So, that could have been close to breakfast, but that felt like days ago. Jack's whole world had shrunk to the space between Rhys' mismatched human and robotic arms.

Just recently, the lethargy had given way to a relaxed bliss. Maybe it was the lack of sleep or an overdose of adrenaline and other hormones, but Jack hadn't felt this good since that time she had taken a double dose of ecstasy. But this time there went any hallucinations to have nightmares about.

"Rhys…" Jack breathed. She propped her leg out of the way to give him better access as he started to thrust into her.

"uhmum?"

"You… you're going to be such a good father."

Rhys was so surprised he stopped moving. Jack whined at him, and he picked up again, but he was listening closely now. His lust induced haze broken.

Jack settled back into it, moving with him. Dropping into the headspace where the line between what she said and what she thought didn't exist.

"And this time… oh, this time it's going to be different. I'm going to keep you safe, and you'll always be there for me. Just like it was supposed to be."

Jack smiled against the pillow. It wasn't her usual smirk or even her fiendishly delighted grin. It was small, but it reached all the way to her eyes.

"I'm going to have my family again," Jack whispered. Almost too quietly for Rhys to hear.

Rhys swallowed, his throat felt too dry to speak without it coming out as a rasp, so he settled on tightening his arms around her chest.

 

* * *

 

 

> ECHO logs are corrupted
> 
> Run Automatized Recovery sequence?
> 
> \- > Yes
> 
> No
> 
> Beginning Memory Dump in 3…2..1…
> 
> M4m2
> 
> #3(DHLAwh477h3d0y0u*#JDHLF
> 
> L47hs8w3c4n7m4k317h4pp3nri385gs29m
> 
> wh0 7h3 h3ll 4r3 y0u 70 73ll m3 wh47 1 c4n 4nd c4n7 d0? 1m h4nd50m3 j4ck, 1m 4 l363nd, 1m 4 l1v1n6 60dd355. 1f 1 54y 1 w4n7 y0u 70 m4k3 4 51r3n, y0u m4k3 4 51r3n, 4nd 1f y0u c4n't 7h3n 1'll ju5t k1ll y0u 4nd f1nd 50me0n3 wh0 c4n. 1 64v3 b1rth 70 on3 b3for3 4nd 1 can-n0, 1 w1ll d0 i7 a64in ju57 w47ch m3.
> 
> Fatal Error Encountered
> 
> Memory Recovery Failure
> 
> <\--!System suggests contacting Hyperion technical support for further assistance, but your shit is probably too fucked up to fix anyway./>
> 
> <\--!Ha ha ha. Suck it loser./>


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, um. I’ve never gone back to finish a story I thought I’d lost interest in before so I’m not sure how exactly I should do this.
> 
> I’ve given the first two chapters a re-edit. Nothing major, but I fixed a lot of the most awkward sentences and changed the summary to be more tonally compatible with the story. 
> 
> Also, even though it’s still not done, I promise it’s all written. I just broke the last two pieces up so that the editing and rewriting are easier.

"Please, Jack, just take the test?"

Jack looked from Rhys to the plastic stick he was offering, her arms crossed over her chest. She looked about ready to bite the offending object in two, maybe take a few fingers off for good measure.

"I don't need some piss-stick to tell me if I'm pregnant. I'll know when it happens, and when I do, I'll tell you."

"How could you possibly know? Even if you're pregnant right now, you won't start showing for months."

"And suddenly you're a midwife? Because the last time I checked, only one of us has been pregnant before. So, unless there's something you'd like to tell me, Rhys, you can stop worrying your pretty head and let mommy handle the baby making, alright?

Jack pushed Rhys hand away and closed the gap between them. She leaned up to kiss him and Rhys accepted the gesture. Jack could tell that he was too annoyed to put his heart into it.

"Are we going to fuck or not? Because I've got shit I need to do today," Jack asked

"Aren't you even a little bit curious?"

Jack sighed and glared up at the ceiling.

"Ugh… yeah, a little, but only because you won't shut up about it," Jack huffed.

She shoved him away but her gentleness made it clear she was not as annoyed as she sounded.

"I'll know I'm pregnant when I start throwing up in the morning, and my belly blows up like a zeppelin; ruining my awesome abs, again, by the way. Early pregnancy is like the only non-shitty part and knowing exactly how many months I have left won't improve it."

"Please, Jack. It will take like two seconds and then we can have congratulations sex, -or 'still not pregnant let's try harder' sex."

"Fine. But only because I can't take any more of your begging. It's freaking pathetic. "

Jack snatched the pregnancy test from Rhys' hand and stalked towards the bathroom. Rhys followed her like the love-sick puppy he was.

As soon as she was past the door, Jack kicked off her pants and underwear, turning to glare at Rhys over her shoulder.

"Are you seriously going to watch?"

"You could close the door."

"Yeah, well, you could look away!"

Jack shook her head, gesturing for him to come into the bathroom with her.

"Fuck it. I'd rather not have to go through this indignantly alone. Especially since it was your stupid idea."

"Rhys nodded. He didn't really mind. They were going to be parents soon, so watching Jack go to the bathroom, was low on the list of overly familiar things they would be doing together."

Jack sat down and tore off the packaging and plastic lid off the test.

"I just have to pee on it, right?"

"You want about five seconds, mid-stream if possible."

"How do you even know all this?"

"I uh... I read the instructions?"

Jack rolled her eyes at him but followed his advice anyway. As soon as she was finished, she put the cap back on. The blank indicator stared up at her. Jack waited for all of two seconds, then got impatient and started to shake it vigorously.

"You shouldn't do that. It's not a Polaroid" Rhys explained. Jack growled and placed the test down next to the sink.

"It's broken. I'll I'm getting is a blank screen.

"It takes a second to start working. Just wait for it."

Jack crossed her arms over her chest and stood up, apparently seeing no reason to put her pants back on as she waited by the sink with Rhys.

Then after what felt like an eternity, a blue image appeared on the front of the test.

:)

"Is that a smiley face? What the dick does a smiley face mean? Is that like 'yay, your pregnant' or 'yay, you're not pregnant?' What if I had been raped, and it was like. 'Congrats on your rape baby XD.'"

Jack looked up at Rhys to see if he had gotten her joke. But the Hyperion CEO was just standing there with his mouth open.

"Yo, Helios to Rhys. You there, cupcake?"

Rhys didn't respond for a moment and when he finally unfroze his first thought was to grab Jack by her arm and pull her into a tight hug.

"Oh, my god Jack."

"Yeah, Yeah. Bravo, there's a small cluster of cells in my womb with your name on it. Try not to cum in your pants, you still need to hold up your end of the deal."

* * *

 

Rhys first thought after detangling himself from Jack was that he had to share the news.

His parents would have to know. It might be a bit of a shock for them since he had skipped all the normal steps. Most notably the 'invite your girlfriend over for Christmas dinner' and 'get married' phases.

Then after his family, he needed to break the news to Va-

Rhys shook his head. No, he didn't. He'd forgotten again.

It was maddening how even a year after the disappearance of his old college friend, he still popped into Rhys' head.

Rhys refused to blame himself for what had happened. He had done everything he could for Vaughn, Sasha, and Fiona. He had gotten them the beacon, dealt with Fitch and Kroger, send Helios soldiers to recover Vaughn and coordinated with them to use the eye of Helios to deliver the final blow to the Traveler.

He hadn't betrayed them. Sure, he made a deal with Handsome Jack and hid her existence from them, but that wasn't, strictly speaking, betrayal.

Still, he remembered the stony look on Fiona's face and the naked seething rage on Sasha's as they were escorted off Helios by a platoon of combat engineers. Even his reassurances that they would get a fair share of the take once they cracked the vault didn't seem to improve the mood.

He would never know for sure what happened one his three friends entered the vault. Since by the time arrived on the scene, the arching gateway had long vanished.

Of course, Jack had thrown a tantrum about missing out on a new Eridian weapon, but a week later she had all but forgotten about it. To caught up in re-exposing her new and younger body to her laundry list of vices. Leaving Rhys with the problem of sorting out what had happened.

He could believe the sisters would have wanted to cut lose and run once they got enough treasure to get off-planet. Vaughn taking that option was a little harder to swallow, but Rhys couldn't deny his friend had gone a little native there at the end. He had thought Vaughn would be overjoyed when he learned he was now best friends with the CEO of Hyperion, but instead, like Sasha and Fiona, he fixated on the fact Rhys had restored Jack to power to in the process.

If he had more time, Rhys was sure he could have won them over, but willingly or unwillingly, they had vanished before he had gotten the chance. No matter how much money he threw at the problem, no one seemed to be able to give him an explanation.

Rhys sighed and buried his face in his hands. The cold metal of his right palm always did wonders to soothe oncoming headaches.

His therapist had talked to him about this. He needed to focus on the future. Whatever had happened he couldn't change any of it, and with Jack confirmed pregnant, he had an oblation to dedicate himself to planning what comes next.

Once he was back at his desk, Rhys was going to sort through a file full of bookmarks and weigh the pros and cons of the ten cradles he was spoiled for choice over.

* * *

 

The distant possibility of Handsome Jack ever becoming pregnant had always been something of a company-wide inside joke on Helios.

Some envisioned fire and brimstone, nine months of pure hell as their fearless leader went even further over the deep end as she bounced up and down on waves of hormones.

Others were more optimistic and assumed that some combination of motherly instincts and the restricted movement would install calm. Though, how exactly was never clarified.

Rhys didn't go out of his way to warn the greater population of Helios of the slowly encroaching answer to the long-asked question, but the rumor mill and attentive eyes made sure the whole station knew long before Jack hit the second trimester.

On the bright side, it meant that no one ever complained when Rhys slipped out of meetings to check on Jack.

Ever since getting the test results, Jack's trips off station had grown fewer and less frequent. So, there was usually a nine out of ten chance Rhys could find her on the sofa catching up on the TV and movies she had missed in the months she spent being dead.

On this occasion, Jack was sprawled over her skag-leather sofa with one foot on the backrest and her head and shoulders hanging over the edge of the seat cushions. The picture on the holographic screen had been flipped upside down to compensate for the unusual posture.

She glanced up (down?) when Rhys entered the room and rolled her mismatched eyes at him.

"Don't you have anything better to do? Newsflash Rhysie, you're not exactly hard to reach, since have your freaking ECHO build into your skull. I promise if I miscarry I'll text you.

Rhys cringed. "Can we not use the M-word? I'm already anxious enough without being reminded of that possibility."

"Kay, but so just so you know There is a line between being an anxious father and an obsessive stalker and you are starting to push it.

"Saying hi on my brakes is not stalking."

"Fine, but if I hear you've been talking to RnD about getting a webcam installed in my womb or something, I'm getting a restraining order."

Rhys nodded. Not meeting her eyes as he quietly deleted a consultation request from his schedule.

Jack sat up, and Rhys took it as an invitation to sit down beside her. He couldn't help but notice that despite her complaining, she didn't waste a moment sliding into his lap and resting her head on his left shoulder.

Rhys wrapped his arm around her front and fanned his fingers over Jack's tummy.

"They don't even have working limbs yet, you're not going to feel anything."

"Just practicing. It won't be much longer now. You're over halfway done."

"Easy for the person not hauling fifteen extra pounds on their hips to say. if it's anything like last time, it'll double that by the time I'm ready to pop."

Rhys nodded. Jack really did seem to take every opportunity to remind him this wasn't her first time pregnant. Though lately, he had been starting to wonder if the constant reminders were more for her than they were for him.

Rhys knew that every time he broached the topic of Jack's past he was walking on very thin ice. He couldn't stop himself from trying, though. Jack's sleep-drunk speech had brought up so many questions.

Instead of questioning Jack directly, he had started digging around in Hyperion compony records. But he hit a roadblock almost immediately once he discovered that everything relating to angel had gone missing around the same time Jack became CEO. This forced him to start hunting for scraps in unrelated documents, with was both tedious and time-consuming.

What little info he could find seemed to refer to her as an artificial intelligence designed by Jack to run various pieces of Hyperion infrastructure.

Compony memos issued before the lost legion attack on Helios implied she was going to administer the primary computer network after it's completion, but he couldn't find any proof that it had been implemented.

There were only two conclusions that Rhys could draw from all of this. Either the angel AI was a separate entity that shared a name with Jack's daughter or Jack had been hiding angel by pretending she was an AI.

The second would explain why there wasn't any record of angel's birth and would match the only piece of information Jack had voluntarily given him. 'I usually don't like people knowing about her.'

But Once he had the AI connection, Rhys finally stumbled on his first big discovery. A build order for an AI control core on the surface of Pandora.

The blueprints were encrypted with class-10 security requirements. Which didn't make any sense, since information on non-essential compony infrastructure was usually kept at clearance level 3.

Once he had the document open on his screen, he could see why. They were not blueprints for a room full of servers, or even the heart of a supercomputer. This was a bunker set two kilometers deep into Pandora's crust. Created to house a single occupant. A single human occupant.

It was all very... obsessive. But with the benefits of hindsight, Rhys knew that it hadn't been enough to stop her being from being murdered. So how could he criticize?

It must have been awfully lonely living in there, though. Especially for a younger girl. But Jack had to keep her safe while she finished colonizing Pandora, Right?

Looking over the extensive security measures again, Rhys couldn't imagine how it had failed to keep her alive. He knew what Vault Hunters were like, but the whole compound around the control core was full to bursting with cutting-edge Hyperion technology. Death walls, a base full of highly train combat engineers, a bio scanner, and voice activated password.

The biggest endorsement it could ever have, though, was the single fact the ever-paranoid Handsome Jack had trusted it to keep safe the two things that mattered most to her; the vault key and her daughter.

Rhys had to be missing something about how this all went down. Some rogue element that had given the Vault Hunters what they needed to break into the most secure Hyperion faculty ever created.

Jack mentioned watching video recordings to recover her memory of the events leading to her death, but Rhys was unable to locate them. Even now that he knew the exact location of the cameras.

Thus, Rhys little sleuthing session had come to an end, leaving him with Jack herself as his last source of information.

Rhys bit his bottom lip, stretching for a place to start that was least likely to rise Jack's hackles.

"I-I um… I'm sorry I never got to meet her."

"Jack looked up from the TV and raised her eyebrows at him."

"Meet who, cupcake?"

"Your daughter, Angel."

Jack stiffened in his lap. One of her hands closed over his right wrist and squeezed it hard enough that Rhys wondered for a moment if she could crack the metal.

"You're not replacing her," Rhys added

"What?" Jack snapped.

"I just got the feeling you needed someone to tell you that," Rhys explained, "Even though we're having another child, it doesn't mean you don't love her anymore."

Jack scoffed and shot him a look over her shoulder. "Well, you thought wrong. I already knew that."

The pressure around Rhys' wrist released and Jack pulled her legs up and tucked them as close to her body as she could with her tummy in the way.

"She was one in a billion you know," Jack murmured.

"Yeah-"

"No, Rhys. She was a siren. She was one in literal billions!"

"O-oh…"

Rhys stared blankly into space, tiny little pieces clinking together in his mind. He didn't know that much about sirens besides the fact that they were beautiful, powerful, dangerous, and that there could only be six in the universe at any given time.

That last fact alone would have to make Angel more than valuable enough to deserve all the security Hyperion could offer. Not even working vault keys were that rare.

"Is that why you put her into the control core?" Rhys asked.

"I see someone's been nosing around in old company files."

Jack shot him a glare over her shoulder. Rhys winced and nodded, no point in lying to her at this point.

"-Angel's powers gave her complete control over technology. She called it Phase-shifting. All I had to do was slip a single piece of Hyperion Tec into practically anything, and she could make it bend to her will. She needed to be local to make the best use of her power. So, I built her the control core. From there, she could do some truly amazing things…"

"-Like this one time, I tricked this pack of bandits into installing a Hyperion power core into their shield array. Then, when I gave Angel the signal, she fired their whole network in seconds. God, you should have seen the look on they're faces-"

Jack's giggle abruptly cut off. Her smile dropping into an emotionless poker face. She pushed Rhys away from her and stood up.

Wordlessly, she stalked over to the wall-sized window that made up the west wall of her living room. Outside Pandora spun, making slow progress towards its single rotation every ninety hours.

"How come we haven't moved yet?" Jack snapped.

"Umm, you mean to Apollo?"

"Yes, to Apollo, I'm twenty weeks pregnant and were still sitting on this bloody space station. I told you I wanted to leave months ago."

Rhys nodded. He thought about bringing up how hard it was to shift power that had been as tightly consolidated as the upper echelons of Helios, but Jack was clearly not in the mood to listen to reason right now.

"This fucking planet took everything from me. How am I supposed to put all this shit behind me when it's staring me right in the face?"

"I'll see what I can do to move it up," Rhys said.

Jack pressed one hand to the glass while the other wrapped protectively around her stomach.

"She's still there, you know. I didn't have the heart to move her. I just locked the whole place down. My baby girl's tomb is on that planet."

Rhys rose to his feet and came over to the window. He touched Jack's hip, and when she didn't shove him off, he took her into his arms.

"All I want is to forget all of this… I **will** forget all of this," Jack insisted. She twisted in his arms and pressed his shoulders against the glass. Rhys felt his heart skip a beat as her multicolored eyes met his. It could have been an accident, but the hand that Jack had on her stomach was pulling up the fabric of her favorite sweater, and the bottom half of her baby bulge was showing.

"Rhys, don't bring her up again and stop digging around in the archives. There's nothing there to find but a long and depressing tale of betrayal and revenge."

Rhys nodded.

"I won't. I'm sorry Jack…."

Jack leaned close and kissed him. Leading Rhys with her lips until he was pinning her against the smooth surface.

Judging by the way her breasts pressed against his chest, Rhys could guess she wasn't wearing a bra.

"That's my sweet boy. Everything we need is right here, just the three of us together," Jack said.

Rhys swallowed hard. If he weren't still receiving visual input from his ECHO eye he would have sword his cybernetics shorted out just then. He'd been living this for months, and sometimes he still found it hard to grasp that this was happening at all. Somehow, he had gone from someone who you have been overjoyed to have Handsome Jack acknowledge his existence to knowing her preferred sex positions and fretting over the health of their developing baby.

When he had interned at Hyperion, he overheard the conversations that went on in the men's bathroom. Speculating about what cup size Jack was or if she would swallow or spit. Rhys liked to insist he was better than that, but when he was laying alone in bed at night, his mind tended to wander.

But **this** wasn't a fantasy. This was a reality, and she was warm to his touch and her eyes shown with an eternal fire that made him want to get down on his knees and kiss her boots.

She was right. Of course, she was right. After what had happened, it only made sense Jack would want her past buried. Just because they were in a relationship didn't give him the right to know everything about her.

The rustle of fabric hitting the floor brought Rhys back from his thoughts just in time to see Jack pull her sweater over her head and drop it next to her pants on the floor. Rhys almost tied to tug Jack away from the window before he remembered they were thousands of miles above Pandora.

Jack leaned her head against the glass. The surface was cold to the touch sending a shiver through her.

"You know, gaining all this baby weight is kind of depressing. It might make me feel better if you can still lift me up," Jack purred.

Rhys blinked at her for a moment before the innuendo finally hit a working brain cell.

"ooooh-oh! Well, um… theirs only one way to find out, right?" he replied.

Jack rolled her eyes and went to undo the front of Rhys' pants. Getting down on her knees proved a lot more difficult that usual. She hit the floor a little harder than intended, a mistake that was not improved by Rhys gasping like a bitch and making a grab for her shoulders. Jack shrugged him off, snapped open his belt and undid the zipper. She thought about taking his pants off completely, but it was always way too much work when all she really needed was his cock.

"Jack, wait, are you oka-"

Jack tossed her head, brushing her hair behind her shoulders before closing her lips around Rhys' dick. It did the trick shutting him up, much to Jack's infinite satisfaction. She tilted her head to the side and braced her hands on his hips.

She wanted to go deeper, but she knew better than to try to deep throat a guy before he was hard. Rhys whimpered softly but stayed perfectly still. He had learned his lesson about messing up her hair when she was going down on him.

Jack pulled her head back and ran her tongue along the bottom. Keeping her eye contract with Rhys. She was used to guys staring at her like she was a goddess walking among men. But so far only Rhys could keep that star stuck expression even when she was sucking him off.

Jack stood, and Rhys caught her around her middle and helped her up. Jack grumbled under her breath but quieted down when Rhys took a firm hold on her hips.

"Ready?" he asked.

"Let's see what you got."

Jack's confident smirk wavered for a second as she was lifted and pressed backward against the glass. He entered her in the same movement, the angle, and gravity forcing him deep inside. Jack crossed her ankles behind Rhys' back, the muscles in her legs flexing as she shifted part of her weight onto Rhys' hips.

"Mmmmm, doing okay there, princess?" Jack asked.

"Yeah," Rhys replied. Though, truthfully, his left arm and shoulders were already starting to hurt. Even before she became pregnant, Jack wasn't the kind of skinny that would have made this easy. She was built for ripping limbs off and strangling people to death with her bare hands, not gliding down a runway in the latest fashions.

He wasn't about to put her down, though, not while he was fully sheathed inside her and she was impatiently rocking herself against him.

Rhys would just have to make this a little quicker than usual, so his human arm didn't give out. He pushed Jack a little harder up against the glass as he slid out of her, he the way he was supporting her he could only get a few inches of movement at a time.

Jack moaned and let her head lull back against the glass. Her breasts bounced with every thrust of Rhys' hips, but when Jack glanced up at him to see if he appreciated it, she realized he was staring at her stomach instead.

"Rhys, my tits are up here," Jack snapped. Startling Rhys right out of his rhythm.

"…W-what?"

Jack's lower stomach ached from the sudden lack of stimulation but she was to pissed off to care.

"Are you seriously just staring at my baby bump? Why?"

Rhys blinked at her.

"I was just looking down, I didn't-"

"Ohh, no, wait. I get it. I should have guessed you'd be the type to have a pregnancy kink. No wonder you insist on checking up with me so many times a day."

"W-what? I don't-"

Rhys trailed off. He knew arguing was pointless. Once Jack latched onto an idea, you couldn't pry her off it with an industrial loader bot.

"What the part you like the most, hmm? Seeing big bad Handsome Jack inconvenienced? Do you imagine I need a big strong man to take care of me? Or is it just the belly bulge, you probably want to cum all over it, don't you?"

Rhys stumbled to reply. Not letting himself dwell on that last image long enough to decide if she was right or not.

"No! I… It's just."

"Just what, kitten? You can tell me."

Rhys huffed and shook his head. It was downright frustrating How even being mid-coitus couldn't shut Jack up for more than a few minutes.

His grip on her hips was beginning to slip so he readjusted to holding her under her knees, running her up against the glass again in the process.

It' Just… just us," Rhys huffed. "-that you wanted to start a filmily with me and that were doing this together."

Jack lick her lips. The head of his cock was pressing ageist her cervix, making her long for another proper thrust.

"Awwwww, pumpkin. You're going to rot my teeth out at this rate." Jack smirked and patted Rhys on the shoulder. "Here, Put me down. I've got an idea."

Rhys nodded and reluctantly slid Jack back down into the floor. They both let out a breath when he pulled out of her.

Jack dragged Rhys back over to the sofa and pushed him down into it, taking up her place in his lap. She took both his hands and placed them on her stomach.

"There, that's much easier to see, now isn't it?"

Rhys skipped over trying to point out that he didn't really care either way and nodded along.

Jack straightened up. Lining up her legs on either side of Rhys' hips. The whole pregnancy kink thing wasn't something she had put a lot of thought into, but finding just the right thing to say to wind Rhys up was usual simple enough. She would just have to do what good heroes did best; improvise.

Jack pulled her shoulders back and crossed her arms behind her head, stretching out her back in a luxuriously as she rode Rhys.

"You know, all this time I thought this was my idea. But that's not true, is it? You've probably wanted to breed me for years. Sitting up Late at night thinking of cumming inside me."

"b-before I met you. A few times maybe… I didn't really think that it would ever happen. Not until…."

Rhys forgot the other half of his sentence, distracted by how soft Jack's skin felt under his hand. He almost felt like he could feel the second heartbeat against the palm of his hand.

"Mmm, well, that's what you get for assuming isn't it? You're lucky I made the decision for us, or else this never would have happened."

Rhys nodded slowly. He really couldn't argue with that. He still had trouble believing it was real when he didn't have the proof under his fingertips.

Speaking of his fingertips.

Rhys moved his cybernetic hands down, pressing the flat of his three middle fingers against Jack's clit. With an idle thought, he activated the vibration emitters in his fingertips. Trying to hold back a smirk as he watched the sensation travel through her.

"Ch-cheater…" Jack muttered. But the way her shoulders slumped and her eyelids fluttered made it clear she was far from being angry.

Jack bit her lip. Abandoning her posture and grabbing the back of the sofa to brace herself. Jack held back a moan as her organum flowed up through her. Even the muscles in her thigh twitching from the aftershocks.

Coming down, Jack settled on Rhys' hips, noticing very quickly that he was still hard inside of her. Jack thought for a moment about trying for round two, but her stamina had taken a harsh hit from the whole 'creating life' business.

Jack eased herself up and off, keeping her eyes locked with Rhys' as she took hold of the base of his cock with one hand. He was very still slick from being inside her seconds ago, so her fingers moved easily over him. Then Jack pushed herself closer and rubbed Rhys cock between her stomach and her palm.

"This is what you wanted, right?" Jack asked with a wicked smirk.

Rhys couldn't answer. Even if he hadn't had a kink before Jack was doing everything she could to make him develop it.

"Go on, Rhyse. Paint me up. I'll even pretend I don't notice you taking pictures with your eye," Jack added.

At any other moment, Rhys might have felt a little ashamed at being called out, but his orgasm took over long before that happened.

Jack tightened her grip, holding still until Rhys was finished before slumping back on the sofa. She spread her legs open again with one foot on the headrest and the other on the floor. Leaning her head back and closed her eyes as she drunk in the feeling. Sticky between her legs and all over her belly, feeling a little raw from the rough sex, but thoroughly satisfied.

"I can't believe I just did that. I-I… all over your…." Rhys stammered.

Jack opened one eye and took in Rhys sitting across from her and staring. She knew that she must look like his wet dreams come to life, but it was nice to get confirmation from the awestruck look on Rhys' face.

"Don't sweat it pumpkin, pregnancy sex is a good for her. keeps my blood pressure down," Jack replied.

Rhys shook his head, but the surprise had worn off enough now that he was ready to take Jack up on her offer about the pictures.

Next time he would ask, though. He probably should have been doing that from the beginning.

Then something Jack had just said replayed itself in Rhys mind.

"What do you mean, 'good for Her'?" Rhys asked.

Jack's pushed herself up again and raised both eyebrows at Rhys.

"Yeah, uh, I got an ultrasound this morning. Didn't I tell you?"

"No. No, you didn't."

"Oh, well, were having a girl, surprise!"

Jack shrugged her shoulders and slumped down further this time, so she was laying flat on the cushions.

Whatever lingering post-sex euphoria Rhys had been experiencing drained out of him. His chest tightened, and he suddenly felt sick to his stomach.

"You should have let me go with you," Rhys muttered.

"Why? It's just a routine medical check-up."

"We're supposed to see the baby for the first time together."

Realizing she wasn't going to be allowed to keep soaking in her afterglow, Jack stood up and walked Back over to the window to grab her clothes.

"Yeash, someone has been watching too many sappy family movies. You're supposed to be running this corporation, Rhys, you can't make time for every single medical appointment I'm going to have."

"This was the first real ultrasound!"

"I can't keep track of whatever appointments you think are special Rhys. The doctors tell me to do shit, and I do it. If you want to be there, talk to them," Jack snapped, draping her yellow sweater over her arm.

"I'm going to go have a bath. You're like an hour over your lunch break anyway."

* * *

When Rhys got back to his desk, he found that the blueprints for the control core had disappeared from the screen. In their place was an error message informing him that the content he had been accessing had been erased from the database. Rhys closed the window and terminated his connection to the central core. He dropped himself into his seat, but he couldn't seem to get comfortable. His robot fingers drummed over and over on the hardwood surface. After another five munites, Rhys pressed the intercom button and spoke to his secretary.

"Jenny, could you get Dr. More on the line for me? The sooner, the better."

* * *

> **EHCO recording playback initiated....**
> 
> **Date: ███**
> 
> **Location: Helios space station: EROS cluster.**
> 
> **Recovered from the personal device of Calvin More, MD.**
> 
> ...............
> 
> "Who is it, Margret?"
> 
> "The CEO. He's requesting that we contract him before all of Handsome Jack's medical appointments."
> 
> "Ah, sounds like he's got a case of the fatherly jitters. If it puts his mind at ease, he's welcome to attend."
> 
> "Yes, sir, that's what I told him. Only, he also seems rather upset about not being informed about an ultrasound we performed."
> 
> "The one ten weeks ago?"
> 
> "I don't think so. it's usually better not to argue with him, through."
> 
> "Strange. Well, we're doing the second trimester one next week anyway. Perhaps seeing the baby will placate him. Give him the date and time, won't you?"
> 
> "yes, doctor."


	4. Chapter 4

"I'd give it two more days, then if nothing happens we can induce labor."

Rhys glanced over at Jack who was sitting with her legs hanging off the side of the exam table. She was kicking her legs like a two-year-old sitting on a dinner chair and didn't appear to be listening to what the doctor was saying at all.

"are we anticipating any problems?"

"No, she's in the proper position. Should be an easy birth, relatively speaking.

"Yeah, easy for you to say, asshat," Jack scoffed.

Dr. More shrugged his shoulders. After nine months of checkups, he had grown impervious Jack's casual insults.

Rhys pursed his lips. There had to be something he was missing. something he forgot to ask. No matter how hard he racked his brain, he couldn't think of any scenario he didn't know how to handle. All that was left was to watch and wait for the contractions to start.

Jack slipped off the exam table. She stumbled forward and righted herself but not before Rhys jumped to try to catch her.

Jack sighed and tugged her arm out of his grasp.

"Let's go cupcake, I'm dying for a cheeseburger."

Without waiting for a reply, Jack moved towards the door.

"Wait, before we go, are we sure your ankle is doing okay?"

Jack sighed but didn't stop walking. "Babe, the doctor is right there. If my ankle were a problem, he would have said something."

Rhys looked at Dr. More But the medical professional just shrugged, he knew not to get himself involved in the domestic disputes of Hyperion's resident power couple.

Rhys threw up his hands and chased after Jack, catching up to her halfway down the hallway.

"You should at least walk a little slower."

"What is it with you and how I move? First, it's no jumping, then it's no running and now I can't even walk without having you bitch at me."

"Uh, yeah, I don't know if you've noticed; but you are nine months Pregnant! -And you were jumping over railings, and running up stairs, and giving me heart attacks."

Jack rolled her eyes as she blew past the receptionist's desk.

"It's only a few more days. Can't you just take it easy?" Rhys asked.

The glass front door of the clinic made a happy little 'ding' noise as the pair passed through.

The off-purple sky of Apollo greeted them outside. It's four micro-suns were just beginning to make their slow descent towards the horizon. Rays of light bounced off the mirrored front of the skyscrapers, reflecting the heat back out into the desert that surrounded the oasis-like city.

A large black Hyperion town car was parked right out front of the building. There was no legal parking spot there but being able to ignore petty laws like that was one of the many perks of operating your corporation on planets you owned.

Jack grabbed the handle on the passenger side. It verified her fingerprints and the door popped open. She sunk into the plush seat, taking a deep breath in as the air conditioning hit her face. A moment later the other door opened and Rhys slipped in beside her.

"You know, I can just drop you off and then get the food. It might be better if you just lay down for a bit."

Jack groaned. She had though she had made herself clear enough by ignoring him.

"Rhys. Fucking. Stop."

Rhys bit his lip. When Jack got brief, things got dangerous. But his sense of her moods had gotten much better in the last third of a year, and he was starting to figure out when he could press her.

"Can't you just lean on me a little? For once?"

"Handsome Jack doesn't 'lean' on anyone. I take care of everyone else. Including you, -and this little freaking monster."

"Don't call her that..."

"Uh, correct me if I'm wrong, Rhyse, but exactly who's blood stream is our precious little miracle cannibalizing for nutrients?"

"Look, you've just flip flopped again. You can't not need help and be overwhelmed at the same time," Rhys snapped.

"Well, that's because depending on people sucks. It just leaves you that much more vulnerable when they fail you."

"Jack, you're about nine months too late if you're suddenly deciding you don't trust me."

Jack slipped down further in her seat and kicked her feet up onto the dashboard. Rhys took a moment to take a deep breath. Sometimes Jack reminded him way too much of a sulky teenager.

"-I just don't understand how you can trust me to care for Hyperion and our daughter, but draw the line at yourself."

"Fine," Jack muttered. "but this better not become some weird alpha-male bullshit where you start opening doors for me and fighting for my honor… also, don't forget the extra pickles."

Rhys rested his head against the top of the steering wheel.

"You are ridiculous."

"That's not how you pronounce amazing. Cuz, that's what I am, amazing. Or incredible, I would also have accepted that."

Rhys leaned back and put his foot down on the gas, pulling away from the curb.

Jack flipped a switch beside her seat and her chair reclined. The black tank top she had on rode up, but since it was proper maternity wear the hemline went past her hips, depriving Rhys of the tummy slips that had been a near constant source of sexual frustration in Jack's early pregnancy.

Rhys took the ramp onto highway 23 and just as he was merging lanes, Jack took a sharp breath that set off every alarm bell in his head.

"Jack…"

"I'm fine. It's just a cramp."

"Are you sure? Because a cramp and a contraction aren't all that different."

"Yeah, nub-nuts I've had both before."

"Is it coming in waves? Does it hurt to move around? We should start a stopwatch so we can tell how far they are apart."

Jack's face palmed with both hands.

"Even if this is a contraction, which is isn't, we can't do anything about it for a few hours. So just take a deep breath, or something, god!"

Rhys gripped the steering wheel hard enough his knuckles hurt. He knew Jack was right. If he had learned anything from his pre-fatherly ECHO-net searching, it was that labor was not at all like the foot race portrayed in tv and movies. Rather, it was mostly sitting and waiting punctuated by short moments of activity.

To change the topic, Jack switched on the radio. It was tuned to Hyperion truth broadcasting and the afternoon talk show was already underway.

"So, what's your favorite part of the move to Apollo, Ashly?"

"The weather, of course. Some might say that a year-long constant of forty-five degrees Celsius and 20 straight hours of sunshine is too much, but those people are stupid and defiantly need more of the glorious vitamin D that our four lovely suns are dishing out. It's scientifically proven to decrease feelings of depression, don't you know?"

"I'll say Ashly, and besides, all Hyperion-run buildings are air conditioned, so who the hell cares?"

"Not me!"

"Now on to our main news story for today. The impending birth of the future heir of the best and most powerful corporation in the six galaxies."

Rhys glanced down at the radio. He still wasn't used to hearing his personal life talked about on various media platforms. It was wired, though kind of flattering.

"Oh Adam, I'm soooooooooo excited. It's just like a fairy tale. Hyperion owns so many planets and cities, she's basically going to be a princess!"

"And she'll be raised like one too. Rumor has it that the best private schools in the galaxy are already putting together portfolios to prove they deserve to be the ones to mold her young mind."

Rhys raised an eyebrow at Jack. "A princess? Really?"

"Every little girl wants to be a princess, Rhys. -And this time I can make sure she's treated like one." Jack replied, running one hand over her belly.

"Speaking of rumors, Ashly. I overheard a juicy one; our CEO Rhys and Handsome Jack have finally decided on a name!" Dave added.

"No way, well I mean they had to do the paperwork and send it off to the galactic citizen registry by now, so it's not surprising, but it's still very exciting!"

"Her name is… pause for dramatic effect… Cassidy!

"How delightfully western! It just rolls off the tongue! Cass-idy."

"Doesn't it, though?"

"Well Cassidy, we here at Hyperion truth broadcasting can't wait to welcome you into the world. We hope you have a good birthday! Whenever that might be."

The radio broadcast lapsed into one of the many popular music songs the HTB rotation. Rhys looked over at Jack again, noting the huge grin on her face.

"How did they know her name?" Rhys asked.

"I sent it in a memo. I thought they should get used to saying it. When she finally decides to show up; I think we should turn it into a corporate holiday. We can call it princess's day or something."

"Rhys was surprised to find he actually liked the sound of that. It was exactly the kind of lavish expense only someone with his power and wealth could bestow upon his daughter.

"Maybe just call it Cassidy day. It kind of rhymes."

* * *

 

Hyperion tower at 7 pm was quite surreal in its own way. It was the land of the interns and the failed ladder climbers who didn't seem to grasp that advancement was really found at company-run bars and nightclubs, not at the end of a paperwork stack.

Rhys almost never stayed this late, but he had taken a very extended lunch break after Jack's doctor's appointment, to the point where Jack had to kick him out of their penthouse with an earful about how many of his organs she would rearrange if he ran her corporation into the ground through neglect.

After that, the day had been a complete blur of faces and places, ultimately leading to his fourth cup of coffee and one very last design document to look over.

Rhys walked past the empty desks belonging to his two secretaries and through the double doors into his office. It wasn't half as impressive as the one Jack had built on Helios, but Rhys thought he could do without two pool sized fountains and thirty-foot-tall ceilings.

His space was more cozy, with the sofa and reading annex only steps away from his desk and floors covered in thick, luxurious carpet.

Outside his window, the last of Apollo's four suns was crossing the horizon. Rhys had to admit he was really getting used to seeing three sunsets in one day. No wonder whoever discovered this planet had decided to name it after the Greek god who pulled the sun across the sky in his four-horse chariot.

Rhys sat down in his chair and tapped one finger against the holographic touch screen. A red indicator flashed up in the corner. He had missed five new high priority text messages.

Rhys' brows furrowed. Anything high priority was supposed to be forwarded to his ECHO-eye implants. Having the system fail now of all times was especially worrying since he depended on it for updates from Jack or her doctors.

It could have been worse, though, at least the glitch didn't happen Just as Jack went into-

Rhys clicked on the nonfictions, and his heart skipped a beat.

* * *

 

"Jack!"

"Uuuugh, rhyyyyyyyys, they literally just finished pumping opioids into my spine. Can't you go scream somewhere else?"

Rhys bit his tongue and came over to the hospital bedside. Jack's brown hair was spread across the pillow like a frizzy halo, and her eyes were so bloodshot you'd think she hadn't slept in weeks.

"Where's..."

"-They're washing all the blood off her. I'm fine by the way, thanks for asking."

Rhys flinched and nodded. So, he really had missed everything.

"I'm so sorry Jack, I don't know what happened. I didn't get any of the messages until-"

Jack cut him off with a glare and a dismissive hand wave.

"Doesn't fucking matter. The doctors would have kicked your scrawny ass out once you fainted anyway."

"How was it?"

"Fucking awful. Basically, the most painful experience of my life and I've been on fire a few times."

"Oh…"

"Give it a few days, and my hormones will have quietly encouraged my brain to delete that little nugget of information. Otherwise, no one would do it twice," Jack added.

The door to the room opened, and a nurse in teddy-bear patterned scrubs came into the room pushing a wheeled bassinette. She stopped when she noticed Rhys and said; "Hello, sir. Would you like to see...?"

Rhys almost tripped over his own feet as he rushed over. The newborn was wrapped up to her neck in blankets, but they were loose enough that one of her hands stuck out and was resting beside her head.

She blinked up at Rhys with her bright blue eyes and yawned. Stretching her arm even further above her head.

Rhys slipped his hands under her and lifted her into his arms, making sure to support her head. She burbled softly blowing a few spit bubbles as she wiggled into a more comfortable position.

Rhys felt like he could hardly breathe. She was so tiny. From her itty-bitty fingers to her limpid pool eyes. After nearly a year of waiting and worrying; here she was, his gorgeous baby girl.

"Hi Cassidy," Rhys murmured, cuddling her close to his chest.

Cassidy gurgled and bumped her tiny fist against the front of his vest a few times. She wriggled like she was trying to turn herself in Rhys' arms.

"W-what's wrong, sweetie?" Rhys asked.

"She's probably hungry. You should pass her to the parent with tits," Jack said.

Rhys brought Cassidy over and placed her into her mother's arms. Jack shifted in bed, pulling one shoulder of her hospital gown off while unwrapping the blankets around Cassidy.

Jack propped the newborn up against her bare chest and nudged her until her mouth was pressed up against nipple. After a moment to figure it out, Cassidy latched on. Jack huffed and wrapped both arms around her newborn settling her into place.

After a few moments where the only sound in the room was Cassidy gently sucking, Jack glanced over at Rhys and frowned.

"What are you staring at, dickface?"

"N-nothing. I just… I mean, you look so, motherly. Well, a little bit less now your scowling at me, but for a second there…"

"We'll see how captivating you find it when we're getting up every three hours to feed her," Jack replied.

* * *

 

"She's done. Your problem now," Jack muttered, passing Cassidy back to Rhys.

She slumped back down into the bed and rolled over. Setting back to sleep without bothering to put her shirt back on.

Rhys stood up, cradling his daughter in his human arm as he walked the couple steps over to Cassidy's crib.

Rhys gently placed her into it, mentally going through his checklist of all the things he was supposed to do when putting her to sleep.

Once she was lying on her back, with the blankets tucked safely away from her head, Rhys straightened up.

He waited until Cassidy stilled and her eyes closed. It didn't take very long, she was proving to be a good sleeper, especially when her tummy was full.

Rhys leaned over the crib railing again and pressed a kiss to his daughter's forehead.

He stumbled back to bed and fell into it beside Jack. She looked fast asleep but went he went to pull her into his arms she shifted back against him till they were both comfortable.

Three weeks into his two-month paternity leave and Rhys was more tired than he could ever remember being. Including when he was stranded on Pandora. He wouldn't trade away even a moment of it, through. No matter how many times he had to get up in a single night.

"Jack?" Rhys murmured, nuzzling into her shoulder.

"Mmmhm?"

"I love you."

"Oh... Right back at you, kiddo."

Rhys smirked against her skin. That was a little closer at least. He didn't really care if she ever said it, her actions spoke loud enough.

* * *

 

**Final archived ECHO recording**

**Date:** [Classified]

 **Location:** [Classified]

**Device registered to Ruben H. Serve, Geneticist.**

**Begin playback:**

"Handsome Jack. Ma'am. I'm so sorry, I thought you were still recovering from-

"I want a report Rudy."

"Ma'am, actually, my name is-"

"Report, now!"

"Ah, W-we just received all the medical data from the hospital. We've ben ale to completely map Cassidy's genome. She should be compatible with all the modifications but-

"But what? You know how much I hate buts, Rudy. Unless they're the kind that look good in shorts."

"Ma'am, I don't think we can risk the possibility that one or more of the augmentations will be rejected; We simply must wait until Cassidy matures to stand any chance of succeeding."

"How long?"

"Eighteen years. It's well-passed puberty so her hormonal fluctuation wild be down, but she will still be young enough to recover quickly from the sugary."

"Hmmmhn…"

"Ma'am?"

"Take a deep breath, Rudy. I don't like waiting, but I'm not impatient. If that's how long it takes, that's how long it takes. she's my precocious princess after all. So, we want to make sure that we do this right. Just think about what were accomplishing here. The first ever artificial siren. A living hybrid of Hyperion and Eridian technology. We're _this_ close to cracking one of the biggest mysteries of their existence. So, when you think about it, this has been thousands of years in the making. I think I can wait another 18."

"Yes, Ma'am."


End file.
